HOUNDS AND HARRIERS RUN CHANCE TO RACE WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND
For a change of pace, why not partner with your best friend this Saturday, October 14th and run in the Hounds and Harriers three mile race at Loantaka Park in Morris Township? If your best friend is your dog, that is.
Yep. Only runners accompanied by a dog are allowed in this tenth annual event. The nationally known event was created by and organized and directed by Barbara Rushman of Florham Park who is given assistance by members of her running club, the Rose City Runners.
Last year the first dog to finish accompanied by a male runner was a golden retriever, Sneakers, whose partner was Kevin Higgins of Randolph. Higgins, along with his wife Maryellen owns Runners Haven a specialty running shoe store in Randolph.
It was Sneakers first race, but one of hundreds that Higgins’ has run over the years. He is currently training for a marathon, but Sneakers only gets out for a short morning jog with his human partner. Sneakers, who is three and a half years old started running with Higgins when he was about a year and a half.
“We run two to three mile in the morning,” said Higgins. “I use it as my warm-up. It’s a good way to get him out, and to get me warmed up for the more serious day ahead.”
Although Higgins lives only a bit over a mile from one of the Randolph Trails trail heads, it is too far to go for the short morning run so the two run in their neighborhood.
“He knows where the turns are,” said Higgins of Sneakers. “It’s a good routine for him.”
“Last year was his first race,” said Higgins. “He was very nervous and he stayed close to me.”
The start at Loantaka has been across an open field before the runners and dogs head out down South Street. Higgins was worried about getting tangled with other dogs at the start but that did not happen. Instead Sneakers got into the spirit of the event immediately, turning into a race horse of sorts.
“There were five or six people ahead of us,” said Higgins. “He didn’t like having people ahead of us so he was focused on catching up to people.”
After about two miles Higgins and Sneakers were in second place, and leaders Bonnie Linton of Hackettstown and her dog Rusty were far enough ahead that Sneakers didn’t view them as a competitor to be chased down. He could also have been a little tired after those first two miles, added Higgins
Linton has been running in the dog and human race for several years and is on her second dog partner. Linton ran the first four years with her parents yellow lab, Brandie. The last year that she ran with Brandie in 2003, her own dog Rusty was waiting to be put on the first string. He was as capable as Brandie of racing with Linton, who is one of the fastest female runners in the area, but there was a little uncertainty in Linton’s mind about Rusty’s focus.
“They were both good runners but I knew what to expect from Brandie and I was afraid he [Rusty] would want to chase every animal,” said Linton. “I knew it was a safer bet to run with her.”
The aging Brandie has now had knee surgery and is showing signs of slowing down, so Rusty was brought up from the B team in 2004. Rusty is a Wire Haired Pointing Griffon, a swift, medium size bird hunting dog, akin to the German Shorthaired pointer.
The first year Rusty nearly tied with the eventual winner. True to his hunting instincts, he put in surges each time he spotted a squirrel. In 2005 Rusty tried to out race the bicyclist leading the race, who tried to stay enough ahead to keep from splashing mud from the rain soaked course. It was in 2004 that Rusty and Linton set the female runner course record of 16:48. In 2005 they were only slightly slower at 17:00, perhaps due to the muddy course.
The male runner course record is 15:49, held by Karma, a lab, and his partner David Panush of Washington D.C., which was set in 2002. Sneakers and Higgins’ time in 2005 was 17:36.
Runners who are interested in signing up for the race should check the website, www.HoundsAndHarriers.com to see if the event has closed out at the 150 cap. Dog lovers and other interested spectators should be in the park Saturday, prior to the 10:00 a.m. start.
Orignally published in the DAILY RECORD of Morris County New Jersey, Sunday, October 8, 2006.
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2006.
